Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Wednesday threatened to order the arrest of senators who fail to attend the last remaining seven days of Senate plenary sessions before Congress goes on a three-month election recess starting February 6.

The threat followed a boycott last Tuesday of the Senate session by some senators supposedly to prevent deliberations on the recommendation of the Senate, formed as a committee of the whole, chastising Sen. Manuel Villar for unethical conduct and ordering him to repay P6.2 billion spent on the controversial C-5 road project in Paranaque and Las Piñas.

The report was allegedly designed to disable Villar’s presidential ambition.

Enrile, chairman of the Senate committee of the whole, dared Villar to be man enough to face the charges and challenged the Nacionalista Party standard-bearer to a public debate to dissect the merits of the report.

Enrile also said he does not hanker to stay as Senate chief a minute longer if his colleagues want him ousted following talks of a coup ostensibly meant to derail public debate on the sanctions against Villar.

The Senate chief said Villar cannot be a coward if he wants to be President of the Republic and must have the moral courage to face the truth and explain the charges against him.

Villar, according to Enrile, is a rich man who can afford to reimburse the P6.2 billion spent on the C-5 extension project, which was allegedly facilitated by Villar to benefit his real estate holdings in the areas traversed by the highway.

Enrile stressed that the extreme penalty the Senate could have imposed on Villar was expulsion but it was not realistic since the Upper House would need two-thirds or 16 senators to sign the expulsion order.

Last Tuesday, only 10 attended the Senate session, not enough for a quorum of 12 senators.

The threat of arrest of absentee senators by Enrile was tacit in a memorandum to all the senators signed by Emma Lirio Reyes, the Senate secretary.

The Reyes memorandum cited section 99 of the Rules of the Senate which states, among others, that “the lack of quorum shall compel the (Senate) President to adjourn the session, unless by means of motion, which shall not be the subject to debate, a majority of the senators present agree to its suspension and ask the President or Presiding Officer to order the Sergeant-at-Arms to require the appearance of the absent members, or, if it is deemed necessary, to order their arrest so as to form the necessary quorum.’’

Six senators were out on official business last Tuesday. They were Sen. Francis Pangilinan who attended a ‘’consultation meeting on improvement and enhancement of various policies pertaining to agriculture’’; Sen. Pilar Juliana ‘’Pia’’ Cayetano who met with women and non-governmental organizations; Sen. Loren Legarda who spoke before environmental groups; and Sen. Ramon ‘’Bong’’ Revilla Jr. was invited to a Tarlac city fiesta.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago called in sick while Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. is attending the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference in Geneva.

Absent without approved official leave were Senators Joker Arroyo, Alan Peter S. Cayetano, Manuel “Lito’’ Lapid, Villar, and Edgardo J. Angara who would supposedly benefit from the reported coup to replace Enrile as Senate president.

Cayetano said that with only six senators comprising the minority bloc, the Senate could have conducted legislative matters with the majority bloc in the 23-member Senate providing the quorum.